GLOSSARY

Mitochondrial Efficiency relates useful energetic output to input under a defined assessment.

Mitochondrial respiration passes carrier electrons through a chain to oxygen as final acceptor, forming water and supporting a gradient. Oxygen use and ATP output are related without an immutable ratio. Whole-body oxygen consumption is not exclusively working-muscle metabolism. Distinguish cellular, tissue and respiratory measurements. A higher oxygen-use value can reflect greater demand rather than automatically greater efficiency, and the test context determines what capacity or function can be inferred.

Proton-motive force includes concentration and electrical differences across a membrane, not pH alone. Controlled proton return couples to ATP synthesis; some fuel energy becomes heat rather than usable ATP. Chemiosmosis explains this relationship. Nutrition does not aim to manipulate membrane permeability or maximize gradients with an untested product. Integrity and regulation matter, and a mechanistic explanation does not establish safety or performance benefit from substances advertised as mitochondrial uncouplers or boosters.

Glycolysis and phosphocreatine transfer do not directly require oxygen in their ATP-forming reactions, while oxygen-dependent processes operate alongside them. Anaerobic does not mean breathing stops or all oxygen use switches off. Contributions vary with intensity, duration and stores rather than fixed temporal on-off boundaries. Recovery of rapid-energy stores also depends on subsequent metabolism. These overlapping systems support sport together instead of one exclusive pathway taking over after a universal time limit.